1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an insulation film with a sufficient film thickness difference between a control gate and a floating gate, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
FIGS. 6-12 show a semiconductor device (split gate flash memory) in cross section, manufactured by a conventional method.
As shown in FIG. 6, the surface of a P-type silicon substrate 1 is subjected to a dry-oxidation at 1000xc2x0 C. to form a gate oxide film 2 on the P-type silicon substrate 1. A polycrystal silicon film 3 is deposited on the gate oxide film 2 by a reduced pressure CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), and an anti-oxidation film 4 composed of Si3N4 is deposited on the polycrystal silicon film 3. Then, a resist 5 is coated on the anti-oxidation film 4, and the resist 5 is exposed and developed to thereby form an opening 6 over an area where a floating gate is formed.
Referring to FIG. 7, the anti-oxidation film 4 that is exposed through the opening 6 is dry-etched using the resist film 5 as a mask, to thereby form an opening 7 in the antioxidation film 4.
Referring to FIG. 8, the resist film 5 is removed. Then, the polycrystal silicon film 3 that is exposed through the opening 7 is selectively etched using the anti-oxidation film 4 as a mask to thereby form a selective oxide film 8 in the polycrystal silicon film 3.
Then, referring to FIG. 9, the anti-oxidation film 4 is removed by heated phosphoric acid. Then the polycrystal silicon film 3 and the gate oxide film 2 are anisotropically etched in a vertical direction using the selective oxide film 8 as a mask, to thereby form a floating gate 9 under the selective oxide film 8.
Then, referring to FIG. 10, a tunnel insulation film (SiO2 film) 12 is formed on the entire surface including the floating gate 9 and the selective oxide film 8 by thermal oxidation or a high temperature reduced-pressure CVD method. Then, an insulation film 10 composed of Si3N4 is deposited on the tunnel insulation film 12.
Referring to FIG. 11, the insulation film 10 is anisotropically etched in a vertical direction to form a side insulation film 11 at a lower section of the side wall of the floating gate 9. Then, the surface is washed with a cleansing solution of NH4OH+H2O2, for example, to remove a damaged layer (not shown) in the surface of the tunnel insulation film (SiO2 film) 12 that is caused by the anisotropic etching.
Referring to FIG. 12, an N-type polycrystal silicon film 13 is deposited on the tunnel insulation film 12 within a phosphine (PH3) atmosphere by a reduced pressure CVD method. The polycrystal silicon film 13 and the tunneling insulation film 12 are patterned, such that the polycrystal silicon film 13 and the insulation film 12 remain in an area starting from a point on the selective oxide film 8, across one side of the floating gate 9, to a point on the P-type silicon substrate 1. The remaining polycrystal silicon film defines a control gate 13.
An N-type impurity such as arsenic, phosphorous and the like is introduced in the P-type silicon substrate 1 on both sides of the control gate 13 and the floating gate 9 to form diffusion regions 14 and 15 for source and drain regions in the P-type silicon substrate 1.
In the split gate flash memory shown in FIG. 12, a high voltage (about 12 V) is applied to the control gate 13 to take out electrons from the floating gate 9 as indicated by an arrow 31 to perform an erase operation. On the other hand, electrons are injected from the substrate 1 as indicated by an arrow 33 to perform a writing operation.
It is noted that electrons flow only in a pass as indicated by the arrow 31 during the erase operation. Accordingly, while the tunnel insulation film (SiO2 film) between the control gate 13 and the floating gate 9 in an area adjacent the arrow 31 has a predetermined dielectric strength, it needs to have a dielectric strength to withstand a voltage higher than an operating voltage in an area adjacent the arrow 32. More specifically, the area adjacent the arrow 31 may have a dielectric strength to withstand a voltage of 7 V, and the area adjacent the arrow 32 needs to have a dielectric strength to withstand a voltage of about 16 V. Therefore, while the tunnel insulation film 12 has a relatively low dielectric strength in an upper portion of the side wall of the floating gate 9, it needs to have a relatively high dielectric strength in a lower portion of the side wall of the floating gate 9.
Under the circumstances, in the conventional split gate flash memory, a side insulation film 11 is formed on the lower portion of the side wall of the floating gate 9 to increase the thickness of the tunnel insulation film to thereby secure a sufficient dielectric strength in the area adjacent the arrow 32 between the control gate 13 and the floating gate 9.
In the conventional semiconductor device described above, the side insulation film 11 is formed to change the thickness of the insulation film between the control gate 13 and the floating gate 9. However, the formed side insulation film 11 does not provide a sufficient thickness difference in the insulation film between the portions adjacent the arrow 31 and the arrow 32 shown in FIG. 12.
Also, when the Si3N4 insulation film 10 is anisotropically etched in a vertical direction in the step of forming the side insulation film 11 shown in FIG. 11, a sufficient etching selection ratio with respect to SiO2 of the tunnel insulation film 12 cannot be secured. As a result, the etching selection ratio often becomes low. As a consequence, SiO2 films in the memory cell area and other areas may be etched more than designed, and thus the device characteristics may become unstable.
The present invention has been made in view of the problems described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device having an insulation film between a control gate and a floating gate in which the insulation film has a sufficient thickness difference between at least two separated locations therein, and to provide a method for manufacturing the same.
In order to solve the problems described above, a semiconductor device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention comprises a floating gate having a side wall with a generally vertical upper section and a tapered lower section, a second insulation film formed on the side wall by thermal oxidation, the second insulation film having a lower section thicker than an upper section thereof, a third insulation film formed on the second insulation film, and a control gate formed on the third insulation film.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, comprises the steps of: anisotropically etching a polycrystal silicon film using a first insulation film as a mask to form an upper section of a floating gate under the first insulation film; etching the polycrystal silicon film using the first insulation film as a mask to form a lower section of the floating gate having a tapered side wall under the first insulation film; and forming a second insulation film by thermal oxidation on the side wall of the floating gate.
In the above-described method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in accordance with the present invention, the upper section of the floating gate is generally vertically etched. As a result, the insulation film is formed thinly on the upper vertical section even if a thermal oxidation process is conducted on the upper vertical section. On the other hand, the lower section of the floating gate is tapered, and therefore the lower section has a thick layer of polycrystal silicon that is to be oxidized. When the lower section is thermally oxidized, an insulation film thicker than that of the upper section is formed. As a result, the insulation film between the control gate and the floating gate has sufficient thickness difference.
Also, the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device described above may preferably further comprise, subsequent to the step of forming the second insulation film, the step of forming a third insulation film on the second insulation film and the step of forming the control gate on the third insulation film. Preferably, the first insulation film may be an oxide film in a generally LOCOS (local oxidation of silicon) shape.
Further, in the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device described above, the etching in the step of forming the lower section of the floating gate is conducted by use of a high density plasma at pressures of about 1-10 mTorr with a flow of an etching gas containing HBr (hydrogen bromide) and O2 with mixing ratios of about 30:1-10:1. As a result, the polycrystal silicon film is etched in a tapered shape, and the lower section of the side wall of the floating gate is formed in a tapered configuration.
Also, in the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device described above, the etching in the step of forming the upper section of the floating gate is conducted by use of a high density plasma conducted at pressures of about 1-10 mTorr with a flow of an etching gas containing HBr and O2 with mixing ratios of about 80:1-40:1. As a result, the polycrystal silicon film is generally vertically etched, and thus the upper section of the side wall of the floating gate is formed in a generally vertical configuration.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings that illustrate, by way of example, various features of embodiments of the invention.